Heartland of Baseball Tour - 2003
July 23, 2003
We got to Miller Park around 6:00- too late for the kids to try for autographs. For the trip, I wanted to vary the places we sat in the various ballparks. For this game we sat in the left field bleachers, the worst seating for any game on the trip. This turned out to be a mistake, as there were too many guys there for the beer and not enough people really interested in baseball. We should have opted for the "family section", which was the next section over. We ended up moving over there about the fourth inning anyway (to escape the drunks), as there were fortunately a number of empty seats available.
Miller Park itself was okay, but not as good as I had hoped. The park is outside the downtown area, and surrounded by parking lots, similar to the 1970s era stadiums. They make the walk into the park pleasant enough, with trees and grassy areas to break the monotony of pavement. Also, Milwaukee is the only Major League city that I know of that has the tradition of tailgating before the game, as in college football. The concourse behind the stands was rather uninspired- not as much character as parks such as Safeco Field or Coors Field. The park also had a bit of an echo from where we sat, and it was very hard to understand the PA announcer. The sightlines from the outfield seats were not bad, though, and from my walk around the park sightlines in general seemed pretty good. Also on the plus side, the entrance to the stadium is quite nice with statues of hometown heroes Hank Aaron and Robin Yount, as well as a monument to the three workers who died during the construction of the park. The bratwurst was excellent!
The game itself was very entertaining, the Astros winning in 11 innings, 3-2. Good pitchers' duel between Roy Oswalt and (surprise) Glendon Rusch (who entered the game with a 1-12 record and 7.99 ERA). Rusch pitched a gem and left after the 7th with a 2-1 lead, which his bullpen couldn't hold. I felt sorry for him. Lance Berkman scored the tying run in the 9th and hit the game-winning home run in the top of the 11th. The winning pitcher was reliever Mike Gallo; this was his first Major League win. The Astros bullpen was flawless in relief of Oswalt.
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The sausage race at Miller Park is more entertaining than the fake electronic races they have at some parks, and has been made famous by the Randall Simon bat attack incident earlier this summer. The Italian sausage won the night we were there. |